To me, 3x is not "accurate" at all: it might be the approximate average, but I've worked on tasks that take anywhere from 0.1x to 10x the original estimate (or

To me, 3x is not "accurate" at all: it might be the approximate average, but I've worked on tasks that take anywhere from 0.1x to 10x the original estimate (or rather, a guess). Some were even infinite, in that they were scrapped when the real cost was uncovered.